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At least 235 records · Page 13Linked to original sources
USGS1976

Trace-metal variation in soils and sagebrush in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana

A reconnaissance study of 28 trace metals in samples of surface soil (0-2.5 cm deep), subsurface soil (15-20 cm deep), and big sagebrush ( Artemisia tridentata ) that were collected from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming and Montana indicates that little variation occurs in nature at scales greater than about 35 km. This general lack of broadscale variation suggests that simple summary statistics for these materials could provide basinwide geochemical baselines for use in monitoring secular changes in the local geochemical environment. Samples of big sagebrush near the Dave Johnston Power Plant at the southern edge of the basin exhibit statistically significant reductions of strontium, vanadium, uranium, and selenium eastward from the plant.

Montana, Wyoming↗
USGS1976

Age and origin of the Darrough Felsite, southern Toiyabe Range, Nevada

The name Darrough Felsite was originally assigned to a body of fine-grained quartzofeldspathic igneous rock probably greater than 3 km thick that is exposed continuously over 100 km 2 in the southern Toiyabe Range of central Nevada. The Darrough was supposed to consist mostly of intrusive rocks of probable Permian age. Reexamination of parts of the Darrough Felsite indicates that it is Tertiary and has no genetic affiliation to pre-Tertiary sedimentary and volcanic rocks of the Toiyabe Range. The Darrough constitutes an enormously thick succession of crystal-lithic tuff, tuff breccia, crystal tuff, and volcanogenic sedimentary breccia and sandstone. The tuffaceous rocks are strongly compacted where ash particles are the dominant constituent but are much less compacted where lithic fragments and crystals constitute a rigid framework. Much of the Darrough Felsite may have undergone extensive siliciflcation, probably as a postcompaction event. Contact relations of the Darrough Felsite indicate that it is younger than pre-Tertiary rocks of the southern Toiyabe Range and the Ophir pluton, here dated at 53.9 m.y. (K-Ar, biotite). Three K-Ar ages of minerals from tuff of the Darrough are 26.1, 22.7, and 22.3 m.y., suggesting a middle Tertiary age. A large dike intruding the Darrough. previously assigned a Jurassic age, gives a K-Ar-biotite age of 29.4 m.y. We tentatively interpret the Darrough Felsite to represent an accumulation of ash and breccia flows in a volcanotectonic depression.

Nevada↗
USGS1976

Petrology of the Paloma Valley ring complex, southern California batholith

The Paloma Valley ring complex is one of the numerous plutons that make up the Cretaceous southern California batholith. The complex is composite, consisting of (1) an older, single ring dike and two subsidiary short-arced inner dikes, and (2) a younger set of thin short-arced dikes largely inside the older ring dike. The older ring dike, composed of granodiorite-quartz monzonite, has nearly vertical walls and is elliptical in plan; its long axis (14 km) is oriented west-northwest. It was emplaced in and contains numerous fragments of gabbro. The more than 200 short-arced granitic pegmatite dikes, mainly ranging from 0.2 to 1 m in thickness, define a domal ring dike set with moderately to steeply dipping outer dikes and nearly horizontal inner dikes. The younger dikes cut both the older ring dike and the gabbro. Spatially associated with the younger dikes are bodies of fine-grained granophyre that contain stringers of granitic pegmatite. The granophyre has an Mg content similar to that of the younger ring-dike rock, but contains less K and more Fe. The older ring dike is interpreted to have been magmatically emplaced in an elliptical zone of ring fracturing in gabbro; the magma made room by stoping the denser gabbro with little assimilation. Upon a release of pressure, a set of domal fractures formed, along which volatile-rich magma was emplaced, forming the younger ring dikes. Granophyre resulted from pressure-quenching through a loss of volatiles. Residual volatiles, or volatiles that were introduced later, recrystallized parts of the granophyre and caused the formation of pegmatite stringers.

California↗
USGS1976

Halogen contents of igneous minerals as indicators of magmatic evolution of rocks associated with the Ray porphyry copper deposit, Arizona

The contents of Cl, F, and H 2 O+ (calculated) in some hydrous igneous minerals in intrusive rocks of Laramide age (70-60 m.y.) near Ray, Ariz., appear to be related to the age and the chemistry of the whole-rock samples. Apatite and biotite in younger, more silicic rocks contain more F but less Cl and H 2 O+ than apatite and biotite in older, more mafic rock; the same relations hold for F and H 2 O+ in sphene. Correlations of the abundance of Cl, F, and H 2 O+ in hornblende with rock chemistry and age are not as strong as for apatite, biotite, and sphene; igneous (?) epidote does not contain Cl and F in amounts detectable by electron microprobe analysis. The contents of Cl, F, and H 2 O+ in whole-rock samples decrease with increasing differentiation index and decreasing age. Data for a single pluton of variable composition mirror the results for a suite of different plutons and dikes. The data are satisfactorily although not exclusively explained by postulating that the melts each contained progressively less Cl, F, and H 2 O and that the hydrons minerals consumed most of the Cl, F, and H 2 O in the magmas. The data may also be explained by postulating that (1) the stocks evolved Cl-bearing water during their ascent and crystallization, or that (2) Cl and H 2 O were concentrated during differentiation of the stocks but the minerals failed to record their buildup. Both alternative explanations find problems with and require special conditions to satisfy field, chemical, and experimental data. If many of the special conditions are not met, a nearby batholithic parent to the stocks is not a favorable source of the mineralized fluids at Ray. Propylitic alteration of biotite results in Cl-poor chlorites and may have provided some Cl to hydrothermal fluids; biotite may have also supplied some F to propylitizing fluids through alteration.

Arizona↗
USGS1976

Bootstrap window, Elko and Eureka Counties, Nevada

The Bootstrap window in the Roberts Mountains thrust of north-central Nevada contains a 1,500-ft (460-m)- thick autochthonous section of carbonate assemblage rocks. These carbonate rocks include the upper part of the Roberts Mountains Formation and an unnamed limestone of Devonian age. They contain abundant material that must have been deposited in or near a reef. Allochthonous chert and shale of the siliceous assemblage, presumably Ordovician and Silurian in age, are present around the window and in a north-trending graben within the window. The Paleozoic rocks contain altered dikes, most of which may originally have been granodioritic. The localized recrystallization in the Paleozoic rocks probably occurred during dike emplacement. Sometime after the intrusion; both the dikes and their host rocks were epithermally altered. Some gold has been mined, and relatively high gold values (≥1 ppm) occur in rocks of the siliceous assemblage in and near the northern part of the steep north-trending fault zone on the west side of the graben. Areas of secondary alteration and of high values of silver and mercury are more widespread than the area of high gold values. The highest concentrations of silver and mercury, however, are also found near the same gold-bearing fault zone.

Nevada↗
USGS1976

Stratigraphic and hydrologic relationship of the Piney Point aquifer and the Alloway Clay Member of the Kirkwood Formation in New Jersey

Coarse quartzose (clastic) sediments of middle and late Eocene age in the subsurface of southern New Jersey are identified in this report as the Piney Point aquifer. The sediments are as thick as 220 feet (67 metres) and form a freshwater aquifer which is laterally continuous with the Piney Point aquifer of the Delmarva Peninsula. The Piney Point aquifer, in the area of Newport in Cumberland County, consists of fine to coarse glauconitic sand that is suggestive of deposition in a marginal marine beach environment. The aquifer tends to become finer grained with depth; coarse sand is dominant near the top of the aquifer, whereas, silt and clay are dominant near the base. The top of the aquifer- is marked by an angular unconformity. The hiatus between the upper Eocene sediments and the overlying Kirkwood Formation of middle Miocene age represents erosion during Oligocene and early Miocene time. The Alloway Clay Member, the basal unit of the Kirkwood Formation, rests unconformably on the Piney Point aquifer. It is a silty clay, dark brown to light tan, and contains abundant shell fragments and reworked greensand from the underlying Piney Point aquifer. The Alloway Clay Member, where present, acts as a confining unit for the Piney Point aquifer in southern New Jersey. Chemical analyses of water samples from the Piney Point aquifer in Cumberland County indicate a potential chloride problem in the aquifer near Delaware Bay. A water sample taken in 1973 at the Gandys Beach well contained 516 milligrams per litre of chloride, and a water sample taken in 1973 at the Money Island Marina well contained 73 milligrams per litre of chloride. Scant water-level data indicate the possibility of declining water levels in Cumberland County near Delaware Bay due to pumping from the Piney Point aquifer in Delaware. The altitude of the water level at well 16 is -3 feet (-1 metre), and the water-level altitude at well 11 is +23 feet (+7 metres).

New Jersey↗
USGS1976

Land subsidence and aquifer-system compaction in the San Jacinto Valley, Riverside County, California - A progress report

Widespread subsidence continues in the San Jacinto structural trough as water levels continue to decline. Subsidence is due principally to the compaction of water-bearing deposits as effective stresses are increased by artesian-head decline. Other possible contributory causes of subsidence are (1) local or regional tectonic adjustments and graben downfaulting, (2) natural compaction of deep water-bearing deposits below the bottom of well casings, and (3) continuing compaction of surficial deposits due to causes other than artesian-head decline. A careful analysis of 4 yr of correlative records of waterlevel, extensometer, and land-surface changes suggests three types of vertical ground movement occurring at the 4S/1W-21N2 recorder site near the San Jacinto reservoir site. The reservoir was drained in October 1973. Listed in descending order of magnitude these are (1) an elastic undulation of the land surface of about 0.06 ft (0.02 m) per year in close response to the roughly 50 ft (15 m) of seasonal water-level fluctuations, (2) a long-term permanent compaction of the deposits in the 0-1,237-ft (0-377-m) zone of about 0.04 ft (0.01 m) per year, and (3) a deep settlement of deposits below the 1,237-ft (377-m) extensometer anchor of 0.01-0.02 ft (0.003-0.006 m) per year, probably caused by continuing downfaulting in the graben trough. The specific compaction of the aquifer system at this site from 1970 to 1974 was about 1.3x 10 -2 (units of compaction per unit of increase in applied stress). The specific, expansion during this period decreased progressively from 1.29x 10 -3 (units of expansion per unit of stress decrease) in 1970-71 to 0.95x10 -3 in 1973-74, suggesting that excess pore pressures in the slow-draining aquitards were not completely dissipated each year.

California↗
USGS1976

Effects of air injection at Prompton Lake, Wayne County, Pennsylvania

Air injected into the hypolimnion of Prompton Lake at a maximum rate of 210 cubic feet per minute (6 cubic metres per minute) during a 65-day period (July 27 to September 30, 1973) produced the following results: (1) With cooler air temperatures prevailing, the mean subsurface temperature increased by 4.0° C compared with the same period in 1972, (2) although chemical and thermal destratiflcation was incomplete, 6 weeks of air injection increased the dissolved-oxygen concentration of the entire tropholytic zone to more than 4 milligrams per litre, (3) concentrations of nitrogen increased in the trophogenic zone during air injection, and (4) Anabaena flos-aquae attained cell concentrations in excess of 4,500 per millilitre during air injection.

Pennsylvania↗
USGS1978

Spectrophotometric determination of tungsten in rocks by using zinc-dithiol

Tungsten is determined in 11 USGS standard rocks by a spectrophotometric procedure that measures the absorbance of the tungsten-dithiol complex. The results are compared with those obtained by other methods. After the samples are dissolved in HClO 4 and HF, the tungsten-dithiol complex is extracted into isoamyl acetate and then back-extracted into isoamyl acetate. The determination of 0.1 part per million in a 500-mg sample can be made routinely.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1978

Solubility of highly soluble salts in aqueous media - Part 1, NaCl, KCl, CaCl 2 , Na 2 SO 4 , and K 2 SO 4 solubilities to 100°C

A modified visual method for determining the solubility of highly soluble salts in aqueous media up to 100° C is presented. The solubilities of NaCl, KCl, CaCl 2 , Na 2 SO 4 , and K 2 SO 4 were determined up to 100° C. The tabulated experimental data and the fitted equations describing the data indicate that the previous literature data for the solubility of these salts were generally high by 0.05 to 2.0 weight percent salt.

Journal of Research of the U.S. Geological Survey↗
USGS1978

Iron-titanium oxide minerals and associated alteration phases in some uranium-bearing sandstones

Detrital iron-titanium (Fe-Ti) oxide minerals of the ulvospinel-magnetite (titanomagnetite) and ilmenite-hematite (titanohematite) solid solution series are common in uranium-bearing sandstones. Alteration of Fe-Ti oxide minerals in oxidizing environments formed secondary products (primarily hematite) that are distinct from those produced under reducing conditions (iron disulfide minerals). Oxidation of sulfidized Fe-Ti oxide minerals, by the processes that formed uranium rolls, produced ferric oxide minerals (limonite) having textures that mimic those of the iron disulfides. Titanomagnetite and titanohematite have been severely depleted in the ore-bearing zones of some uranium deposits. The alteration of detrital Fe-Ti oxide minerals near uranium ore deposits may produce characteristic signatures in the magnetization of the sandstone. Knowledge of the distribution and magnetic properties of these minerals can aid in interpreting data from total magnetic-field and magnetic-susceptibility surveys of uranium deposits.

Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, Wyoming↗
USGS1978

Significance of age relations above and below upper jurassic ophiolite in the Geysers-Clear Lake region, California

In The Geysers-Clear Lake area of northern California, a fragmented Upper Jurassic ophiolite overlain depositionally by the Great Valley sequence is juxtaposed over deformed and metomorphosed rocks of the Franciscan assemblage along the Coast Range thrust. The basal strata of the Great Valley sequence consist of thick breccias of mafic clasts, identical in composition to the upper part of the ophiolite. These breccias and their contact relations suggest that more than 1 km of the upper part of the ophiolite was locally eroded in early Tithonian time. On the basis of their radiolarian faunas, cherts in the Franciscan assemblage below the ophiolite range in age from Late Jurassic (early Tithonian) to Late Cretaceous (early Cenomanian). Of particular significance is an individual chert body (= The Geysers chert) of this age range. The early Cenomanian radiolarians, except for two occurrences associated with pelagic limestone, are significantly younger than those previously reported from the Franciscan assemblage. The existence of a sequence of Late Jurassic to Late Cretaceous radiolarian chert places critical constraints on subduction models for emplacement of the Franciscan assemblage beneath the Coast Range ophiolite and Great Valley sequence in The Geysers-Clear Lake area. From early Tithonian to post-early Cenomanian time, the Franciscan assemblage received pelagic sedimentation far from any site of subduction. By other data, blueschist metamorphism of subducted Franciscan strata also occurred during this time. The radiolarian data from The Geysers area permit a correlation with Upper Cretaceous pelagic limestones in the Laytonville area northwest of The Geysers and also imply that the Great Valley sequence was never depositionally in contact with the Franciscan assemblage.

California↗
USGS1978

Age and composition of igneous rocks, Edna Mountain quadrangle, Humboldt County, Nevada

Six pulses of igneous activity ranging in age from Jurassic to Pliocene have been identified in the Edna Mountain quadrangle, Humboldt County, Nev. Porphyritic syenite am! quartz monzonite of Jurassic age (146-164 million years) at Buffalo Mountain are highly potassic through a wide range in SiO 2 content from olivine-bearing syenite to quartz-rich monzonite, and their composition contrasts sharply with plutons elsewhere in north-central Nevada. Granodiorite and quartz monzonite plutons of Cretaceous age (88- 106 m.y.) are chemically and mineralogically similar to other calc-alkaline plutons in north-central Nevada. Four episodes of Tertiary volcanism include rhyolite ashflow tuffs and slightly younger andesitic basalt flows and tuffs of Oligocene age, rhyolite vitrophyre of late Miocene age, and olivine basalt flows of Pliocene age. Their age and mineralogical and chemical compositions are similar to other Tertiary volcanic rocks in north-central Nevada.

Nevada↗
USGS1978

Pressure gradients and boiling as mechanisms for localizing ore in porphyry systems

Fluid inclusions in ore zones of porphyry systems indicate that extensive boiling of hydrothermal fluids accompanies deposition of ore and gangue minerals. The boiling commonly accompanied a change from a lithostatic to a hydrostatic environment during evolution of an epizonal stock. Pressure gradients near the margin of the stock can determine whether ore or only a diffuse zone of mineralization is formed. A sharp drop in pressure in an epizonal environment is more likely to cause extensive boiling than a comparable change in a deeper environment, as the slope of the boiling curve steepens with an increase 'in pressure. The drop in pressure causes the hydrothermal fluids to boil and creates a crackle (stockwork) breccia, which hosts the veinlets of gangue quartz and ore minerals. The boiling selectively partitions CO 2 , H 2 S, and HCl into the vapor phase, changing the pH, composition, ionic strength, and thus the solubility product of metal complexes in the remaining liquid and causing the ore and gangue to come out of solution. Fluid inclusions trapped from boiling solutions can exhibit several forms, depending on the physical and chemical conditions of the hydrothermal fluid from which they were trapped. In one case, inclusions when heated can homogenize to either liquid or vapor at the same temperature, which is the true boiling temperature. In another case, homogenization of various inclusions can occur through a range of temperatures. The latter case results from the trapping of mixture of liquid and vapor. Variations in salinity can result from boiling of the hydrothermal fluid, or intermittent incorporation of high-salinity fluids from the magma, or trapping of fluids of varying densities at pressure-temperature conditions above the critical point of the fluid. In places, paleopressure-temperature transition zones can be recognized by fluid-inclusion homogenization temperatures and phase relationships and by the presence of anhydrite daughter minerals. Boiling of a hydrothermal fluid in the porphyry environment affects light stable isotopes. Hydrogen is preferentially fractionated into the vapor phase from water boiling below 223°C; above this temperature deuterium is selectively enriched in the vapor phase. In certain environments boiling creates a vapor-dominated system in which the condensate is swept away by meteoric waters and the H/D in the residual fluids is progressively increased through time.

Utah↗
USGS1978

Phosphorus in hydrothermal waters of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Ninety-seven hot-spring and geyser samples (field acidified to pH<1.4 with HCl or HNO 3 ) from Yellowstone National Park, Wyo., were analyzed for PO 4 -P using reduced molybdenum-blue and the selective arsenate reducing agent, metabisulfite-thiosulfate. The PO 4 -P concentrations ranged from below detection limit (~1-73 micrograms per liter). Twenty-five springs had PO 4 -P concentrations exceeding 6.8 &mu; g/L; seven spring samples exceeded 20 &mu;g/L. Elevated PO 4 -P contents were invariably associated with mixed springs, as evidenced by diluted chloride concentrations and, commonly, subboiling temperatures, low pH's, and elevated calcium concentrations. Alkaline high-chloride (>400 milligrams per liter) hydrothermal waters from Upper and Norris Geyser Basins had PO 4 -P concentrations below 2 &mu;g/L and represent the low end of the range of PO 4 -P contents in natural waters.

Wyoming↗
USGS1978

Conductive heat flows in research drill holes in thermal areas of Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

In convection systems with boiling springs, geysers, fumaroles, and other thermal features, the modes of heat flow become increasingly complex as a single liquid phase at depth rises into the near-surface environment where heat flows by convection of liquid and vapor and by conduction in high thermal gradients. This paper is mainly concerned with the changing patterns of conductive heat flow as related to channels of subsurface convective flow and to horizontal distance from spring vents. The primary data consist of temperatures measured in 13 cored drill holes as drilling progressed. Some temperatures plot convincingly on straight-line segments that suggest conductive gradients in rocks of nearly constant thermal conductivity. Temperature gradients and the conductive component of total heat flow nearly always decrease drastically downward; the gradient and heat flow of the lowest depth interval recognized in each hole is commonly only about 10 percent of the highest interval; the changes in gradient at interval boundaries are commonly interpreted as channels of near-boiling water or of cooler meteoric water. Temperature reversals are probably related to inflowing cooler water rather than to transient effects from recent changes. Some temperatures plot on curved segments that probably indicate dispersed convective upflow and boiling of water in ground penetrated by the drill hole. Other similar curved segments are too low in temperature for local boiling and are probably on the margins of hot upflow zones, reflecting conductive cooling of flowing water. The conifers of Yellowstone National Park (mainly lodgepole pine) seem to have normal growth characteristics where near-surface conductive heat flow is below about 200 heat-flow units (1 HFU = 10 -6 cal/cm 2 = 41.8 mW/m 2 ). Most areas of abnormal "stunted" trees (low ratio of height to base diameter, and low density of spacing) are characterized by conductive heat flows of about 250 to 350 HFU. The critical factor affecting growth is probably the seasonal maximum soil temperature at the root depths preferred by each form, rather than the heat flow as such. Heat flows up to 300 HFU are greatly dominated near the surface by conduction and are little affected by convection within the measured intervals. With increasing total heat flow above 300 HFU, the convection component, as indicated by snowfall calorimetry, becomes increasingly important. Snowfall calorimetry and tree growth as related to heat flow are calibrated by the heat-flow data considered here. Both snowfall calorimetry and tree growth patterns can be extrapolated rapidly, although without high precision, to thermal areas that lack subsurface data.

Wyoming↗
USGS1978

Upper Devonian radiolarians separated from chert of the Ford Lake Shale, Alaska

Leaching of black bedded chert from the Ford Lake Shale, Kandik Basin, Alaska, with dilute hydrofluoric acid resulted in the complete separation of moderately well preserved radiolarians. Preliminary study of an assemblage obtained from the lower half of the formation revealed six to eight forms apparently identical to specimens previously known from the Tournaisian of southern France and northwestern Turkey, including four genera not previously described from North America. Sparse, poorly preserved conodonts in the same sample are of Late Devonian age. We conclude that certain radiolarian species, hitherto known only from the early Carboniferous, span the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary. The radiolarian assemblage of the Ford Lake Shale sample contrasts markedly with Late Devonian assemblages known from the Canol Shale of northern Canada and the Huron Member of the Ohio Shale; the Ford Lake Shale fauna may reflect greater oceanic influences than these other localities, which lie farther inland from the Devonian continental margin.

Alaska↗
USGS1978

A reexamination of the Pennsylvanian trace fossil Olivellites

The original interpretation of Olivellites plummeri Fenton and Fenton as the trace of an infaunal gastropod, is reconsidered and rejected. The original slab bearing several examples of O. plummeri has been reexamined and reillustrated. The slab came from the type-locality of O. plummeri in Eastland County, Tex., and is a shallow sub tidal sandstone of the Graham Formation; the sandstone, which has yielded additional specimens, is presumably a reworked delta-front deposit. Olivellites was also observed in the Caddo Creek Formation in Stephens County, Tex., but, to date, it has not been found elsewhere in north-central Texas. Interpretation of Paleozoic ichnofossils by analogy with modern traces is limited; behavioral characteristics may be the products of post-Paleozoic innovation. The internal morphology and path of Olivellites are unlike those of any modern gastropod trail, and the genus is removed from the Mollusca.

Texas↗